Patriot Nathan Hale Was Hanged Nathan Hale statue at Yale in New Haven, Connecticut, where he attended college Patriot Nathan Hale Was Hanged September 22, 1776 "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." Have you heard this famous declaration before? American patriot Nathan Hale said it on September 22, 1776, his last words before he was hanged for spying on British troops. How did this come to pass? Hale, born in Coventry, Connecticut, on June 6, 1755, and a teacher by trade, joined his five brothers in the fight for independence against the British. page 1 of 3 Price ELA Expository Readings and Responses: EXPOSITORY 6: Life Price ELA Expository Readings and Responses Monday, October 8, 2012 EXPOSITORY 6: Life "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." Nathan Hale, before being hanged by the British, September 22, 1776 Instructions: 1. Read the Text Silently (3 minutes) 2.

Using the corresponding handout - write out the text (2 minutes) 3. T4 the Text (5 minutes) 4. Using the corresponding double-entry log - research the quote and how it was used. (15 - 20 minutes) 5. Develop a Lesson Learned statement (not just a repeating of the quote - nine words or less) (10 minutes) 6. Develop the Lesson Learned statement into a Topic Sentence (5 minutes) 7. Use this Topic Sentence as the first sentence of your written response below (2 minutes) 8. Write an expository response using the research data - that provides the quotes purpose and how it was used. (Two paragraphs - each paragraph 5 - 7 sentences - single spaced) (20 min) 9. Print your Name/Date/Hour at the beginning of your written response. 10. Copy and Paste your Expository Response from either Pages or Open Office to the text box. 11. Before you submit - select 'anonymous' - then submit (you may have to fill out a signature certification box) NOTE: If we exceed our time - the remaining work must be completed before the next class time - at home.

Posted by Mr Price at Nathan Hale (1755 - 1776) - Genealogy Nathan Hale in New York, New York County, New York Cause of death: Hanged by the British for espionage Place of Burial: Coventry, Tolland, Connecticut, United States Immediate Family: Cause of death: Hanging - Sep 22 1776 - New York City Brother: Before June 6 1755 - Coventry, Connecticut Death: Sep 22 1776 - New York, New York Parents: Patriot of the Revolutionary War, Nathan was hung as a spy. Remembered for his oft quoted words, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." In 1985 Captain Nathan Hale was designated the official state hero of CT. At age 14, he enrolled at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. While at Yale, he became close friends with Benjamin Tallmadge, a fellow Yale student who would later become George Washington's head of intelligence during the Revolutionary War. Hale graduated from Yale with honors and became a school teacher in nearby East Hadaam, and later in New London.

When the war began, he joined the Connecticut militia and became a first sergeant. In 1776, he was promoted to captain in the Continental Army's 7th Connecticut Regiment. In August and September of 1776, during the Battle of Long Island, Hale volunteered to spy on British troop movements. Disguised as a school teacher, he was captured by British forces near present-day Queens following the torching of New York City. British officials, suspicious of Hale's school-teacher facade, pretended to be Patriots and succeeded in convincing him to reveal his espionage (spy) activities. He was then questioned by British General William Howe. Apparently, some evidence was found on him, and he was subsequently hanged for treason the next day. According to eyewitness accounts, Hale's composure in the moments before his execution were astounding. His final words, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country," have been immortalized forever. Today, statues of Nathan Hale can be seen at the Nathan Hale Homestead, Yale University, the Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.), and Andover Academy in Massachusetts.

from - See his "pedigree" at the Nathan Hale Society - Nathan Hale Homestead'he Nathan Hale Homestead was the home of the family of State Hero, Nathan Hale. Constructed in 1776, the current house is the second dwelling built on the property. Nathan’s father, Richard Hale, was a prosperous livestock farmer and built the house for his large family. Ardent patriots, six of Richard’s eight sons served in the patriot army. One son, Capt. Nathan Hale was caught and hanged as a spy at age 21 by the British in September of 1776. He is famous for his alleged last words, “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.” Following the American Revolution, three Hale sons died from wounds received in the war. Their widows and children moved to the family homestead, so that an average of 12-20 people lived in the house at any one time. The Homestead is a pristine example of a Georgian-style home. Although sold out of the Hale family in the 1820s, the house has remained virtually intact.

The house was first restored by George Dudley Seymour, who saved the house in the early 20th century. Recent paint analysis has resulted in the repainting of the house interior in historic colors. The house is furnished with Hale-family pieces and period antiques and is based on the family inventories. The house was deeded to Connecticut Landmarks in the 1940s. Much of the acreage associated with the Hale farm, is now the Nathan Hale State Forest. Source: __________________ A statue of Nathan Hale stands proudly in front of Tribune Tower, a memorial to one of a America's heroes, a true patriot. Captain Nathan Hale (1755 - 1776) On a September morning in 1776 a 21-year old American captain faced the most trying moment of his young life. He was shortly to die -- and to die the death of a criminal, of a traitor -- he was to hang, convicted without benefit of a trial. We cannot know the thoughts of this soldier in the last moments of his young life, but his behavior and legendary last words catapulted him to the pantheon of American heroes.

“I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country,” Fourteen words and the life of Captain Nathan Hale ended and his reputation as the Martyr-Spy of the American Revolution began. Nathan Hale was born on June 6, 1755, in Coventry, Connecticut, to Richard Hale, a prosperous farmer, untiring patriot and church deacon, and his wife, Elizabeth Strong Hale. Nathan was the sixth child, one of nine sons and three daughters, ten of whom survived to adulthood. Nathan’s mother did survive the birth of her twelfth child, but only by a few months, leaving Nathan motherless at age 12. With young children to raise and a large farm to manage, Deacon Richard Hale remarried two years later to a wealthy widow from Canterbury, Abigail Cobb Adams. Little detail is known about Nathan’s childhood but he certainly would have helped with the many farm and household chores and spent many happy hours hunting, fishing, and “bathing” in the nearby lake. His fowling piece hangs in the family home today. Sundays were spent in church, morning and afternoon.

Another treasured item at the Homestead is Nathan’s Bible, signed by him, with a few verses marked: “In my father’s house are many mansions and I go to prepare a place for you,” a famous passage. Nathan and his brother Enoch were prepared for Yale by the well-known Congregational divine, the Rev. Dr. Joseph Huntington. School was the local minister’s home, two miles away; the curriculum was Latin, Greek, Hebrew, penmanship, among other subjects. In 1769, at age 14 Nathan had demonstrated sufficient knowledge of the classics in addition to New Testament Greek and set off with Enoch for Yale College in New Haven. The boys lodged in Connecticut Hall, the only Yale building now standing that Nathan knew; his statue stands in front of it today. Dubbed “Hale Secundus,” (Enoch being “Primus”) Nathan was a good student who also enjoyed the sports of the day. Legend has it that his record for the broad-jump held till some years after his death. In his second year, Nathan was elected to a secret literary fraternity known as Linonia for which he was scribe, librarian, and finally president.

He was apparently a popular and respected student though not perfectly well behaved. His quarterly bills indicate that he was charged for broken window glass and other damages, and he was once fined four shillings as “Punishment.” Nathan was active in debating and dramatic productions and organized the fraternity’s library, even donating a copy of “The Travels of Cyrus” and “the Spectator” to the collection. Letters from Deacon Hale to his sons during their years at Yale are much the same as letters from parents are today: all relate to money, clothes and behavior. “I hope you will carefully mind your studies that your time be not Lost and that you will mind all the orders of College with care and be sure above all forget not to Learne Christ while you are busy in other studies,” Deacon Hale writes a few months after their arrival. “Shun all vice especially card playing,” he writes a year later. “Read your Bibles a chapter night and morning. I cannot now send you much money…” Hale did not graduate first in his class but he was among the better scholars, graduating with 35 other young men on September 8, 1773.

One of the day’s highlights was a forensic debate in which Hale and others argued the then pertinent question, “Whether the Education of Daughters Be Not, Without Any Just Reason, More Neglected Than That of Sons.” Tradition has it that Nathan took the side of the girls and won. After graduation, Nathan journeyed to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to visit his uncle, Major Samuel Hale, a Harvard graduate, and headmaster of a well-known Latin School there, probably seeking career advice. That fall he embarked on a teaching career in East Haddam, Connecticut., in a schoolhouse that still stands today. He was well-liked but at 18 years old probably lonely for friends and entertainment in the remote town. “Everybody loved him,” said Hannah Pierson of Nathan during his stay there. “He was so sprightly, intelligent, and kind and so handsome.” It is during this time however that Nathan may have found love, albeit perhaps briefly. A few lines of doggeral written by him to an unnamed person speak of a special friendship: I trust, our Friendship though begun of late, Hath been no less sincere, than intimate.

O f this I’m sure; I’ve not as yet regretted, That to your Company I’ve been admitted. After five months in Haddam Landing, Nathan applied and was accepted as headmaster of the Latin School in New London. “I love my employment; find many friends among strangers; have time for scientific study,” writes Nathan of his new position. “ My school is by no means difficult to take care of. It consists of about 30 scholars; ten of whom are Latiners (college bound) and all but six of the rest are writers. ” Nathan was a popular teacher among the students though controversial among some adults. For one thing Nathan believed in giving rewards and praise to students who had worked hard—not a universally accepted idea at the time. But even more radical, Nathan admitted girls to the secondary school. Of course the young women who wanted a higher education had to come to school at 5 in the morning before the boys arrived. Recalled one of his students: “Scholars old and young (were) exceedingly attached to him respected highly by all his acquaintance fine moral character.

Face full of intelligence and benevolence manners mild and genteel.” By all accounts Hale was very good-looking and his female students may have found this to be an added motivation for attending school at that early hour. “Why all the girls in New Haven fell in love with him and wept tears of real sorrow when they heard of his fate,” remembered one of his early admirers. Hale’s athleticism was probably a big hit with his male students. Recalled one: “He (Nathan) would jump from the bottom of one hogshead up and down into a second and from the second up and down into a third like a cat. He used to perform this feat often; He would also put his hand on a fence high as his head and jump over it.” In the 18th century, teaching was usually a stepping-stone to the Congregational ministry but it is not known what Nathan’s plans were. It is also during this period that Nathan kept up quite a correspondence with Yale classmates, their letters full of news of friends, jobs, romances, and politics. When the news from Lexington and Concord reached New London in 1775, Nathan decided to give up teaching and join the army.

His speech in favor of rebellion at a town meeting inspired many to join the army. Nathan applied to the Connecticut General Assembly for a lieutenancy and received it. From August to September 14, Hale was stationed in New London. His company reached the American camp at Roxbury, Mass., at the end of September 1775. Duty outside Boston in 1775 turned out to be pretty boring for many of the young soldiers. They were engaged in a holding action, a stalemate, with the British occupying the city and the Americans surrounding them. Nathan’s diary from this period indicates he spent a lot of time reading about how to be an effective officer. “It is of the utmost importance that an Officer should be anxious to know his duty, but of greater that he should carefully perform what he does know: The present irregular state of the army is owing to a capital neglect in both of these,” he writes in his diary. He also drilled his men, played football and other games, and visited with friends.

“Clean’d my gun—pld some football, & some chequers.” And on another day “Dine at Brown (Tavern), drink 1 bottle (of) wine…walk’d about street, called at Josh. Woodbridge’s.” But life as an officer certainly tested one’s commitment to the cause: “Promised the men if they would tarry another month they should have my wages for that time,” writes Nathan toward the end of 1775. By the time Boston was evacuated in March of 1776, Nathan had been promoted to captain. Nathan may also have begun to make contacts for his future occupation as spy, but this has not been proven from the known surviving letters or diaries. In March 1776 the British finally left for Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Washington, thinking they were off to occupy New York, sent most of his troops there. Nathan and his men arrived is New York City on April 30 and while stationed there, Nathan went on one or more trips through Long Island. This may be inferred from letters and diaries, but his whereabouts and purpose of his activities are unknown.

In July 1776 the British landed on Staten Island, unopposed, and on August 27 they defeated the Americans at the Battle of Long Island. Nathan’s regiment was not directly involved in the fighting but may have played a role in ferrying the Americans back across the East River to New York after this defeat. On August 29, all American troops had been evacuated to Manhattan. Soon afterwards, Hale was detached for service and in September he was sent on his spying mission, back behind British lines on Long Island. Nathan became one of four captains in the select regiment known as Knowlton’s Rangers, formed after the defeat at Long Island, probably for the purpose of reconnaissance and forward action. This still remains one of the jobs of the Rangers today—getting information from behind the enemy lines. After the Battle of Long Island, it was only a matter of time before the British would make an assault on New York Island (as Manhattan was then known), and with autumn coming on, the sooner it could be captured, the better, if a winter haven was to be secured.

The American’s main object then, was to make it as difficult as possible for the British, and despite official reports to the contrary, to burn the city at the last possible moment in order to made it uninhabitable. A delay would also allow Washington to assemble a network of undercover agents who could later report on British activities once the Americans had withdrawn from the area. Such a network was in fact in place by the time the British took over New York. We don’t know what Knowlton’s Rangers were instructed to find out in late summer of 1776, nor do we know what they accomplished, but New York was a spy center at that time. “The Rebels have good intelligence of what we are doing……” wrote one British officer. For obvious reasons, records of covert actions were not kept, and the secret agents’ names are mainly unknown even to this day. Nor do we know what Nathan was expected to do on Long Island or if he accomplished anything. The date 1776 on the seal of the Army's intelligence service today refers to the formation of Knowlton's Rangers.

We do know that Washington was justifiably concerned with the British recruitment of American Loyalists at this time, a recruitment that was in high gear all along the coast of Long Island Sound in the spring and summer of 1776. Had the British done a better job mobilizing American sympathizers, the Patriots might well have lost the war. Nathan’s letter to brother Enoch during this time underscores the feelings of many patriots: “It would grieve every good man to consider what unnatural monsters we have as it were in our bowels. Numbers in this Colony, and likewise in the western part of Connecticut, would be glad to imbrue their hands in their country’s Blood. Facts render this too evident to admit of dispute. In this city such as refuse to sign the Association have been required to deliver up their arms. Several who refused to comply have been sent to prison. It is really a critical Period. America beholds what she never did before. Allow the whole force of our enemy to be but 30,000, and these floating on the Ocean, ready to attack the most unguarded place. Are they not a formidable Foe?

Surely they are.” Little is known about Nathan Hale’s work as an undercover agent. His missions, his whereabouts, his experiences are only dimly understood. This uncertainty has made him a popular subject with writers of historical fiction, who thus feel free to add their own details. Contemporary newspaper accounts are contradictory. The memories of his colleagues about what happened, mostly recorded decades later, are of uncertain value. Hale compounded the problems because he stopped writing a detailed diary. Even the Army order books are vague. According to a friend and schoolmate of Nathan’s, William Hull, Nathan debated about whether to go on a covert mission in August of 1776. William, who later became a General, reported a number of years after the Revolution that he had tried to dissuade Nathan from accepting his last spying mission. He told Nathan that being a spy was dishonorable in the eyes of the world and to be caught meant certain and inglorious death. Even success would not bring honor, William reasoned.

Nathan argued back and finally concluded: ‘I wish to be useful, and every kind of service, necessary to the public good, becomes honorable by being necessary.” According to the best evidence, Nathan left the American camp at Harlem Heights, New York, around 10 September 1776 for Norwalk, Connecticut, where he was ferried across the Sound to enemy-held Long Island taking with him his college diploma. Hale had performed reconnaissance on Long Island before it had fallen to the British, and he likely had established contacts in the heavily Loyalist towns there. On 21 September he was arrested as a spy, probably in the vicinity of present-day LaGuardia Airport and taken to British headquarters in Manhattan. He was ordered executed the next morning. At the gallows, in front of “Artillery Park” (present-day Third Avenue at 66th Street), Hale made a sensible and spirited speech,” among others things making a perfectly apt reference to a famous play by Joseph Addison about giving up one’s life for liberty. His body was left hanging for a period of days as a warning to the rebels and was thrown into an unmarked grave.

Two last letters written by him to his beloved brother Enoch and his commanding officer, Lt. Col. Knowlton were lost or destroyed after his death along with his Yale diploma. Why, many scholars have wondered, would a spy carry his own identity papers? Of course, carrying his diploma would have been a useful credential in his “cover” as a schoolmaster among Long Island Loyalists. But there may have been more to it than that. To prove a person was a spy, it was usually necessary to show that he or she had been going under an assumed identity. Such, in any event, was the basis of cases against other accused spies at the time. Thus, Nathan Hale agreed to spy but not to lie, and this may have been his specific instruction. Further evidence supporting this theory is that when Nathan was caught, he made no attempt to lie about who he was or what he had been doing. Perhaps this was his own moral scruples at work, but it may also have been judged by his commanding officers to be the wisest course of action.

According to an early newspaper account, Nathan was betrayed to the British by his first cousin, a Loyalist from Newburyport, Mass., Samuel Hale who was on Long Island at the time. Nathan’s boyhood friend and army orderly Asher Wright in his 82nd year dictated his story and talked of Nathan; “Some say his cousin, Samuel Hale, a tory, betrayed him, I don’t know; guess he did.” Stephen Hempstead, a friend from Nathan’s New London days, echoes the same theme. “He was met in the crowd by a fellow-countryman, and an own relation (but a tory and a renegado) who had received the hospitality of ths board, and the attention of a brother from Captain Hale, at His quarters at Winter Hill, in Cambridge, the winter before. He recognized him, and most inhumanely and infamously betrayed him…” Both men were of sterling character and were close to Nathan. However, their stories were told in their much later years and Hempstead’s contains some factual errors. Neither were eye-witnesses to any part of Hale’s mission or execution. After the war, Samuel firmly denied any part in Nathan’s death.

“Depend upon it there never was the least truth in that infamous newspaper publication chargeing me with ingratitude, &c. I am happy that they have had recourse to falsehood to vilify my character. Attachment tp the old Constitution of my country is my only crime with them…” Nathan’s father disbelieved the newspaper account, though he assumed his son had been pointed out to British by someone. “Betra’d he doutless wass by somebody…” Since Nathan carried his own diploma, however, a villain need not have been involved. Still, the story of the betrayal has found acceptance among many writers and makes for an interesting subplot. Not only are we unsure of the circumstances of Nathan’s capture; we don’t even know where he was caught whether on Long Island or in New York or by whom. British accounts are the most credible but the information is sketchy. One contemporary account mentions Hale as being caught on Long Island by Major Robert Rogers, hero of the French & Indian War, turned Loyalist recruiter on and off Long Island at the time.

We do know for sure that he was hanged without benefit of trial the morning after his capture, on September 22, 1776, in what is today mid-town Manhattan, a short distance from the American lines. As was the custom, he was left hanging for several days as a warning to the Americans and buried in an unmarked grave that has never been located. The fact that the event was noticed at all is remarkable considering other events: the burning of New York City and the Battle of Harlem Heights. Just as Nathan was being arrested, the American patriots were engaged in a serious of maneuvers that materially helped their cause: the movement of American troops up the east side of Manhattan and the burning of New York City—located at the lower tip of the island. A decisive victory for the Americans, a skirmish known as the Battle of Harlem Heights, in which Nathan’s commander officer, Thomas Knowlton was killed and several of Nathan’s own brothers were engaged, had just taken place, on September 16. Soon after his death, rumors about Nathan must have circulated through the American camp, but no American letters or other documents written in New York at the time survive.

The only contemporary accounts are very brief and were written by British soldiers. It wasn’t until some time later that Nathan’s brother Enoch came to New York to investigate the rumor that had reached Coventry concerning Nathan’s execution. Luckily, Enoch kept a diary. “September 30. Hear a rumour t(hat) Capt Hale belonging the east side Connecticut river near Colchester who was educated at College was seed to hang on t(he) enemies lines at N York being taken as a spy –or reconnoitring t(heir) camp—hope it is without foundation—something troubled at it sleep not ver y well.” “October 14 – Accounts from my brother t(he) Capt are indeed melancholly!—That about the 2d week of Sept. he went to Stanford crossed to long Island(Doct Waldo writes) & had fin(s\ished) his plan but before he could get off was betrayed taken & hanged without ceremony! Tis said by his counsin Sam Hale! Some entertain hope that all this is not ture but it is a gloomy dejected hop. Time may determine.

Conclude to go to (the) Camp next week.” In response to Nathan’s death, an aide of Washington spoke of retribution, and early news accounts tried to fire up support for the American cause by blaming the loyalist cousin Samuel for the betrayal. Nathan’s grief-stricken family erected a cenotaph in the Coventry cemetery with the inscription “He resigned his life –a sacrifice to his country’s liberty at New York, Sept. 1776 Great American Men | Home of the Brave Home of the Brave Archived Posts from this Category January 9, 2009 [3] Comments During the summer of 1755, a patriot was born in Coventry, Connecticut. His name was Nathan Hale, and he was the sixth of twelve children born to Richard Hale, a prosperous farmer, and his wife Elizabeth (nee Strong). Nathan was raised in the Christian faith by his Puritan parents, and studied under the village minister until he was fourteen. In 1769 he before enrolled in Yale University with his older brother Enoch. He played sports and joined a literary fraternity, and was among the thirteen highest-ranking scholars in his class.

After his graduation at age eighteen, Hale became a schoolmaster at East Haddam and later in New London, probably intending to become a Christian minister at some point. But the Revolutionary War interrupted his plans. On April 19, 1775, Nathan’s five brothers fought at the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Risking his career and reputation for what he believed, Nathan himself joined the 7th Connecticut Regiment as a first lieutenant in July of that same year. He worked hard in his position as an officer. Once, when his men were despairing, Nathan offered them his own slender salary if they would just stay on another month. When General Washington reorganized the army, Nathan was placed in the 19th Connecticut Regiment as a Captain. Several men asked to be put under his command. By the spring of 1776, General Washington moved the army to New York to guard it against an impending British invasion. Nathan was stationed at Bayard’s Mount, erecting fortifications and breastworks, but he saw no combat. The British slowly forced the American army to retreat farther and farther back. September of 1776 arrived, and General Washington desperately needed to know where the British intended to invade Manhattan Island.

Espionage was considered highly dishonorable, but it was the only thing to be done. General Washington called for volunteers. Hale stepped forward. He went behind enemy lines on September 12th, disguised as a Dutch schoolteacher looking for work. He was glad to finally be doing something valuable for the cause he believed in, and worked hard to gather the information the patriots needed. Nine days later, on September 21st, he was returning to American lines when he was stopped by the British on Long Island. Because of the incriminating maps and information he carried, Hale was taken to General William Howe, commander of the British forces. He readily stated his name, rank, and object in crossing the British lines. The General sentenced him to death on charges of espionage. His execution was to take place the next day, on the morning of September 22nd. Placed in the custody of the cruel Provost Marshall, he spent the night alone. He asked for a minister and then for a Bible; both requests were refused. Finally, he asked for paper, pen, and ink. Provost Marshall refused this, too, but another British officer had compassion on the young man and brought him the writing materials.

Captain Hale wrote two letters, which were never delivered and probably destroyed. The next morning at 11 a.m. Captain Nathan Hale was hung for a spy. His reported last words, a paraphrased quote from Joseph Addison’s play Cato, will forever be remembered in American history. “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.” Hale was 21 years old. His body was left hanging for several days as a warning and example. Then it was taken down and lain in an unmarked grave. Captain John Montresor of the British army crossed the American lines under a white flag to report Hale’s capture and execution. He and other British soldiers had noticed the young man’s composure and bravery even in the face of death. Captain Nathan Hale, America’s first spy, was a man of firm convictions, strong moral character, and deep faith. He was willing to pay the ultimate price for “his country”…even though his country was in poor shape during that September of 1776. This was the lowest point of the American Revolution. Countless battles were being lost and many soldiers were deserting. But Nathan Hale still believed in the young nation.

Before his executors, he announced that he considered the United States of America worth dying for. He probably believed that no one would know his fate, and if they did, would be ashamed of his dishonorable death. But he gave his all anyway. Now, over two hundred years after his death, the country Nathan Hale fought to free remembers him as one of its greatest fathers and greatest patriots. “Nathan Hale”, Trey F., The Blue Darter’s Guide to the American Revolution, “Patriot Nathan Hale was Hanged -September 22, 1776”, America’s Library, “The Execution of Nathan Hale, 1776”, Eyewitness to History, (2000) “Nathan Hale”, Wikipedia, “The State Hero: Nathan Hale, 1755-1776”, State of Connecticut, (2002) “Captain Nathan Hale (1755-1776)”, by Rev. Edward Everett Hale, The Connecticut Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, “Captain Nathan Hale (1755-1776)”, (c) Mary J.

Ortner, Ph.D, The Connecticut Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, (2001) “Nathan Hale -Wars and Battles, 1755-1776”, U-S-History, “Nathan Hale Revisited: A Tory’s Account of the Arrest of the First American Spy”, by James Hutson, published in the Library of Congress Information Bulletin, July/August 2003 – Vol. 62, No. 7, ww.loc.gov “Nathan Hale”, The American Revolution Home Page, Ronald W. McGranahan, (2004) “The Last Days and Valiant Death of Nathan Hale”, American Heritage Magazine, American Heritage Publishing, ( 2008 ) [24] Comments Artist's conception of Crispus Attucks George Washington. Samuel Adams. Paul Revere. These names are part of the story and legacy of our nation. But the name of Crispus Attucks may not be recognized by many.

In fact, he was a man we know very little about, although he has been called “the first to defy, the first to die” and “the first to pour out his blood as a precious libation on the altar of a people’s rights”. To this day, his life remains shrouded in mystery. On October 2, 1750, an advertisement was printed in the Boston Gazette. “Ran away from his Master, William Brown of Framingham, on the 30th of Sept. last: a mulatto Fellow, about 27 years of age, named Crispus, 6 Feet and 2 inches high, short curl’d Hair, his Knees near together than common; and had on a light colour’d Beaverskin Coat, plain new buckskin breeches, blue yarn stockings and a checked woolen shirt.” The piece went on to promise a reward to anyone who would find and return the runaway slave. The advertisement was printed again on November 13th and November 20th.

No one knows for sure who this slave was, but many scholars speculate that it could have been one Crispus Attucks, who, in March of 1770, was a dockworker and sailor in the ports of Boston. He was of African, and perhaps Wampanoag Indian, heritage. Very little is known of this man, but he was probably born into a family of slaves. His father may have been a man named Prince Yonger, who was brought to America on a slave ship from Africa and married a Native American woman named Nancy Attucks. Many historians believe that Crispus, yearning for freedom at a young age, escaped to Nantucket in Massachusetts and found work as a harpoonist on a whaling ship. Following his dream of liberty, Crispus worked for 20 years as a merchant seaman before that fateful March of 1770, which found him in Boston, possibly awaiting passage to the Carolinas. Tensions between the colonies and the motherland across the sea had been mounting ever since the French and Indian War.

Many of the American colonists vehemently believed that certain acts passed by King George III and the heavy taxation without colonial representation he had enacted were violations of their rights as Englishmen. After the American complaints reached London, the king ordered some of his troops to encamp in Boston. These soldiers made life difficult for the Bostonians with their drunken brawls and rowdy, spiteful ways. They often terrorized the streets at night or disrupted church services with their riotous singing. At last, Samuel Adams called for the sailors and dockworkers of Boston to demonstrate against the British troops planted by the king. Crispus Attucks, well knowing the value of freedom, was quick to answer this call. On March 5, 1770, about 40 to 50 colonists, armed with sticks, clubs, and snowballs, were gathered at King Street. Tensions had finally reached a boiling point. Scattered fights and rumors of beatings had flown throughout the city that day until a small crowd had begun taunting the British sentry on duty at the Customs House. When the sentry called for backup, the mob refused to be daunted.

The townspeople gathered snowballs from the thick drifts at their feet, and tossed them angrily at the British troops. Suddenly, a British musket fired and three men lay dead in the snow. Others were wounded; two were wounded fatally. Crispus Attucks was the first to fall. This tragedy became known as the Boston Massacre, and it was one of the biggest sparks to light the fire of the impending Revolution. Boston honored these men as martyrs for the cause of liberty. Crispus’s body lay in honor at Faneuil Hall, awaiting burial. On the day of the funeral, much of the city closed. Bells were rung, and thousands of people joined the solemn march to the Old Granary Burial Ground, where the bodies were lain in a common grave. This was one of the oldest cemeteries in Boston and other notables such as John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Paul Revere were later buried here. Crispus Attucks has been remembered throughout American history in a number of ways. He was a hero and a martyr during the Revolutionary War.

The abolitionists of the mid-nineteenth century lauded him as a great African-American hero and patriot, and declared a “Crispus Attucks” day on March 5. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote of him as an example of moral courage. A monument on Boston Commons bears his name and the names of the other four men who died. Poet John Boyle O’Reilly wrote a poem for the unveiling of this monument, calling Crispus “the leader and voice that day.” The United States Treasury minted a special commemorative coin in 1998 called “The Black Revolutionary War Patriots Silver Dollar”, which bears the image of Crispus Attucks on one side and a family of African-American patriots on the other. James Neyland wrote this of Attucks: “He is one of the most important figures in African-American history, not for what he did for his own race but for what he did for all oppressed people everywhere. He is a reminder that the African-American heritage is not only African but American and it is a heritage that begins with the beginning of America.” As long as history is told, the first fallen fighter in America’s struggle for independence will be remembered.

His story is all the more remarkable because Crispus Attucks began life as a slave. His African and Wampanoag heritage make him a hero to Americans whose skin is not white; reminding them that they, too, have a birthright in this nation. But in truth, he is a hero to all of us. Without letting bitterness towards the country that had enslaved him overrule his convictions, Crispus Attucks gave his life for the cause of freedom. And in doing so, he gave the freedom he loved to a nation. His was the first sacrifice for liberty, and after it was made, there would be no looking back. Resources: Leave a Comment Ronald Wilson Reagan was the fortieth President of the United States of America. He believed in his country and in its people, and inspired a nation with his vision of confidence and hope for the future.

His was an ideal of “peace through strength” during a turbulent time in world history, believing that “no arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.” He was born in 1911 in Tampico, Illinois and died in 2004, a victim of a 10-year struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. He left behind his wife, Nancy, to whom he had been lovingly married for 52 years, and three children (one adopted during a previous marriage to actress Jane Wyman). Throughout a lifetime of struggles against Communism, the Cold War, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, divorce, the death of two children, an assasin’s attempt on his life, and other tragedies, Ronald Reagan remained strong and kept a sense of humor that touched a hurting and confused nation at its deepest level. Reagan attended high school in Dixon, Illinois, and went on to work his way through Eureka College, where he played football and acted in school plays in between his studies of sociology and economics.

After graduation, he worked as a radio sports announcer until 1937, when he won a contract as a film star in Hollywood, California (the same year he joined the Army Reserves). Reagan went on to act in 53 films, and became president of the Screen Actors Guild. While serving in this capacity, arguments over Communism caused Reagan to change his political position from liberal to conservative. He soon became enthusiastically involved in his new party, working as a television host and a spokesman for conservatism. He won the Governorship of California in 1966 by a margin of over a million votes, and his term was renewed in 1970. In 1976 Reagan fought for the Republican Presidential nomination against Gerald Ford, but lost the bid by a narrow margin. Ford went on to lose the election against Democratic candidate Jimmy Carter. In 1980, Ronald Reagan was the Republican Party’s nominee, and Reagan selected former Texas Congressman and U.N. Ambassador George H.W. Bush as his running mate. He took the election and won a re-election in 1984; this time receiving all the electoral votes but those in Minnesota and Washington, D.C.

At almost 70 years of age, he was the oldest man yet to be elected President. 69 days into his first term, Reagan was shot by a crazed young man named John Hinckley Jr. Reagan wrote later that, as he lay in the hospital and watched Jim Brady, one of the men who had been shot trying to protect him, being wheeled past his room in a coma, he said a prayer for him, but thought, “I didn’t feel I could ask God’s help to heal Jim, the others, and myself, and at the same time feel hatred for the man who had shot us, so I silently asked God to help him deal with whatever demons had led him to shoot us.” Ronald Reagan believed in forgiveness, faith, strength and perserverance in pain. He also lived these things. He believed in “better tomorrows”. He believed in “empathy”; in “developing a knack for putting yourself in someone else’s shoes”.

He believed that “a people free to choose will always choose peace”, that “democracy is worth dying for, because it’s the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man.” Ronald Reagan trusted in the importance of small-town America and the traditional family, stating that “all great change in America begins at the dinner table”; and in the power of small businesses (“entrepreneurs and their small enterprises are responsible for almost all the economic growth in the United States”). That “freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.” He wanted to be able to “…be sure that those who come after will say of us…that in our time we did everything that could be done. We finished the race; we kept them free; we kept the faith.” He kept to his famous philosophy of “peace through strength”, exhorting his countrymen to fight oppresors and tyrants (“when you can’t make them see the light, make them feel the heat.”). He fought drug addiction (“Let us not forget who we are. Drug abuse is a repudiation of everything America is.”).

He was adamantly opposed to racism and discrimination, saying, “The glory of this land has been its capacity for transcending the moral evils of our past. For example, the long struggle of minority citizens for equal rights, once a source of disunity and civil war, is now a point of pride for all Americans. We must never go back. There is no room for racism, anti-Semitism, or other forms of ethnic and racial hatred in this country.” He was also a strong, born-again Christian, believing that “without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure” and “within the covers of the Bible are all the answers for all the problems men face.” His marriage to Nancy was one of the most important parts of his life. He loved her with a deep and lasting love that a nation whose view of marriage had been rocked noticed. And she was devoted to him, heart and soul.

He saw her as a gift from God, writing in his diary, “I pray I’ll never face a day when she isn’t there[,] of all the ways God had blessed me, giving her to me was the greatest – beyond anything I can ever hope to deserve.” Later, he wrote, “…it is almost impossible for me to express fully how deeply I love Nancy and how much she has filled my life. From the start, our marriage was like an adolescent’s dream of what a marriage should be. It was rich and full from the beginning, and it has gotten more so with each passing day. Nancy moved into my heart and replaced an emptiness that I’d been trying to ignore for a long time. Coming home to her is like coming out of the cold into a warm, firelit room. I miss her if she just steps out of the room.” Ronald Reagan was a high successful President and, most importantly, a truly patriotic American citizen. He loved his God, his family, his country, his brothers and sisters of America. And up until the end of his life, these things were his driving passions. In November of 1994, Ronald Reagan penned a hand-written letter to America, announcing his recent diagnosis.

“I have recently been told that I am one of the millions of Americans who will be afflicted with Alzheimer’s Disease… At the moment I feel just fine. I intend to live the remainder of the years God gives me on this earth doing the things I have always done… I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead. Thank you, my friends. May God always bless you.” On June 5, 2004, at the age of 93, Ronald Reagan passed away. But the things he lived for will remain, and he will always be remembered as a truly great American. Resources: 1 Comment The Virginia Convention on the ratification of the Constitution was just getting started on June 4, 1788, when George Nicholas stood up to speak. This beloved soldier and patriot was said to have been the first man to fire a shot against the British as they invaded Philadelphia. Those on the floor were concerned that the newborn Constitution would prove too weak to prevent future tyranny and so would bring about the abolition of the freedom these young colonies had so recently fought to win.

“An enlightened people,” said Nicholas, “Will never suffer what was established for their security to be perverted to an act of tyranny.” This statement was simple, but it made all the difference. The Convention members understood his meaning. An enlightened citizenship would never allow power-hungry men to twist the original meaning of the Constitution into something which would suppress their freedom. The founding fathers had installed enough safeguards to ensure this. All it required was that the people of America remain enlightened. We must ask ourselves this question: are we an enlightened people? Are we protecting ourselves against tyrants who would take away our liberties? Or have we become lazy and ignorant, not educating ourselves as to the Constitution and the decisions being made in our courts today? Dr. Michael Farris writes, “If we are honest about our situation, we have to conclude that George Nicholas’s optimism has not been fulfilled. The Constitution was intended for our liberty. The Supreme Court was especially intended to protect our liberties. Instead, the Court has twisted the Constitution and made it an instrument of tyranny.” We the people must once again educate ourselves. We must once again prove ourselves enlightened.

By reading Supreme Court cases, studying Constitutional law, making informed voter choices, letting our elected officials hear our voices, and paying attention to the decisions they make, we will be enlightened, we will have freedom and we will not be tyrannized. I believe that if many people studied the recent Supreme Court cases they would be absolutely shocked at how our freedoms are being usurped. The founding fathers would be dismayed and outraged. We, the people of America, have a responsibility to ourselves, to our children, to our forefathers, and to this great land itself. Let us be enlightened. 1 Comment March 23, 1775 dawned in Richmond. The nip of a fading winter was still in the air; the ladies and gentlemen had not yet abandoned their warmer clothing. But within St. John’s Church, a debate was raging hot. Proceedings in Philadelphia had reached a fever pitch. The colonies would fight for their liberty, and Virginia was smugly sure that Britain would bend. Aye, America would win her freedom with hardly a fight…the redcoats would be gone with the next ship. The Revolution could be won peacefully. The Virginia Assembly was now listening to a man who was not so sure.

This young lawyer from Hanover County saw the danger of approaching British troops and urged Virginians to take arms. The Revolutionary Convention prepared itself to hear his unpopular position. What could this Patrick Henry say to change their minds? “I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided,” he was saying, “and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the House.” Assemblymen shifted uncomfortably. Had not they themselves seen the great ships in their own harbors? The marching armies drilling in the squares? This fearless lawyer spoke upon that knowledge. “Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us: they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging.” His voice was rising, his speech impassioned.

“If we wish to be free– if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending–if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained–we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us!” His voice rose above the clamor. “Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable–and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.

” And now his voice grew louder still, speaking each word with the fervor of one who believed it with all his soul. “It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace– but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” The Virginia Revoluntionary Convention was on its feet, shouting. The mood had turned, the tempest swelled. Moments later, when a vote was called, Patrick Henry’s position won by a mere half dozen votes. Virginia was called to arms…called to protect itself bravely against the British. Virginia had entered the Revolution. Who was this man? During his life, Patrick Henry was many things.

First a shopkeeper, opening a store with his elder brother William, which quickly failed. Then a farmer, working to till the land of his young bride, Sarah Shelton. But when fire destroyed this place, called Pine Slash, Patrick Henry once again tried his hand at storekeeping. This, too, failed, and so he worked at Hanover Tavern, owned by his father-in-law, and studied books of law. In 1760, this young self-taught jack-of-all-trades convinced the panel of Virginia attorneys to admit him to the bar, despite his lack of education and knowledge. He quickly made good in the courts of Hanover and nearby counties, and soon found fame in winning the famous Parsons’ Cause case at Hanover Courthouse, in which he argued against a law which would diminish the pay of ministers in the colonies, on behalf of one Reverend James Maury. His speech defied the authority of Britain and earned him fame in the colonies. Soon, this radical lawyer became as one with the fight for independence. He was elected to the House of Burgesses in 1765 and the Second Continental Congress in 1775.

He argued on behalf of persecuted Baptist ministers and against the Stamp Act (nearly committing treason in the process). His eloquence gained him recognition as the most celebrated orator of early America. His firey words and rebellious beliefs gained him popularity as well as enemies in this turbulent time, and to the crown, he was the face of insubordination in Virginia (an edict was issued against him by Governor Dunmore in 1775). For a brief time he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Virginian forces, despite his inexperience, but it was soon apparent that the military was not his calling. George Washington said, “I think my countrymen made a capital mistake when they took Henry out of the senate to place him in the field.” Although his men were fiercely loyal to him and threatened to desert if he resigned, Henry refused to allow his pride to hurt the cause he believed in, and urged his men to respect their new commanders. Patrick Henry went on to serve five terms as governor of Virginia (1776-1786). He declined a sixth and continued with his law practice. He declined a position in the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention in 1787, but was elected to the Virginia Convention a year later.

He strongly opposed the Constitution at first because it did not contain a Bill of Rights, but his opposition helped cause one to be written in 1791. In the years 1794-1796 Patrick Henry declined the offices of governor of Virginia, U.S. Senator, Chief Justice, Secretary of State, and ambassador to Spain and France. His health was failing. He retired to Red Hill with his second wife, Dorethea Dandridge (his first wife having died in 1775), where he eventually died on June 6, 1799, shortly after his election to the state legislature. He was 63 years old. The Virginia Gazette reported the death of this great man, writing, “As long as our rivers flow, or mountains stand, Virginia . . . will say to rising generations, imitate my Henry.” Unlike many of his contemporaries, Patrick Henry never served in high office or sought political power for himself. His convictions were radical and deeply held.

He made the Revolution understandable and important to the common American men and women with his passionate, honest speaking, and was “”the man who gave the first impulse to the ball of revolution.” As Thomas Jefferson said, ““It is not now easy to say what we should have done without Patrick Henry. He was before us all in maintaining the spirit of the Revolution.” Even in his death, Patrick Henry worked to build up the young nation he loved. In a letter written to be opened after his passing, he said that whether or not the independence of America “will prove a Blessing or a Curse will depend on the Use our people make of the Blessings which a gracious God hath bestowed on us. If they are wise, they will be great and happy. If they are of a contrary Character, they will be miserable. Righteousness alone can exalt them as a Nation. Reader! whoever thou art, remember this, and in thy Sphere, practice Virtue thyself, and encourage it in others. P. HENRY”

Question: What Revolutionary War hero, who regretted that he had but one life to give his country, was hung by the British on Sept 22, 1776?
Answer: Nathan Hale